Jennifer Yuh Nelson On Directing ‘Kung Fu Panda 2′

The first “Kung Fu Panda” movie, which was released in 2008, made north of $631 million dollars worldwide and became an instant gem in the DreamWorks canon that begged for a sequel. That sequel, “Kung Fu Panda 2,” will be released tomorrow and was helmed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson, who migrated to a director role after serving as head of story on the first. Speakeasy chatted with Nelson about how 3-D will enhance the viewer experience this time around, how to make it in a male-dominated industry and why feathers are so challenging to draw.

The Wall Street Journal: What was it like going from head of story on the first film to director on the second?

Jennifer Yuh Nelson: It was surprisingly easy because I’ve had the same crew for close to five years. We all work well together so the support system was strong. When you’re head of story, you’re more involved in the front half of the film, as far as the production pipeline. When you’re directing, you’re involved with every piece of the movie that comes through. It was cool because the kind of steps they’re taking so late in the process were really inspiring.

You come from a Korean-American background and have mentioned your love of martial arts films. How did that influence you in the making of this film?

I grew up watching martial arts movies — I gravitated toward them when I was younger. I enjoyed them because of the action, but they also tend to have characters who are larger-than-life and have layers. When I had the opportunity to do something like “Kung Fu Panda” I just wanted to be on it. That’s why I’ve spent seven and a half years on this.

Was there added pressure because the first movie did so well?

I did feel pressure but not because of a box office. I loved the first film. The crew I worked with loved the characters so much, they came back. That’s where the pressure comes from — you have all your friends working on something and you don’t want to waste anyone’s time. We made a movie that we and our kids wanted to watch.

You are one of the few females to solo direct an animated feature. Have you encountered any gender issues as you’ve risen through the industry?

In my career, I have never run into a gender problem. I’ve been very fortunate to have so much support. A lot of the time people forget that I’m a woman. That’s where we should be going. We should get to the point where it’s not about a woman or a man; it’s just a director. The industry has to become gender-invisible. I haven’t experienced it so I wish I could understand the causes. A way to fix it would be to have more role models at the top so we can get to where it’s less of a surprise that a woman is the director. We have a lot of female animators on the crew — it’s not a 50-50 situation, but there are many.

This movie, unlike the first, was crafted in 3-D. What was your approach to ensure it didn’t feel too gimmicky or conspicuous?

I’m a very visual person and tried to replicate what human eye sees. It’s not a technical thing for us, it’s more like we perceive 3-D in real life. That’s why a lot of the point of focus is on the screen, it’s not in front popping out so you have to cross your eyes. It’s a comfortable spot. Everything else that goes out behind or in front is slightly in the periphery or has a sense of depth, while everything that you’re watching is utterly clear. That allowed us to have dynamic filmmaking and fast cutting without it being gimmicky. We wanted the scale to be vast, which is what the the 3-D adds.

Tell me more about the vast scale.

Because Po is leaving his comfort zone and leaving the Valley of Peace, we had to create large-scale scenery and huge designs. We wanted vast landscapes to match his challenge. In the first film, it was hard to make a square block practical. In a sequel like this, we can build an entire city and the characters can run through it.

The villain Lord Shen has a set of very intricate-looking feathers. Were they hard to do?

Feathers can be more complicated because they have a structure that disappears into itself. There are different types of feathers that have their own arrangements. Shen had different layers of rigidity that made for a very complicated texture. Most people don’t do it because it’s hard but we wanted to do something different. It took us well over a year to get him in shape to animate.

3-D has come a long way, but is there some technology that isn’t developed yet that you wish existed?

Anything that makes the experience more like our experience in real life. We interact with film because we’re used to having it a certain way, but we need to have much more immersion. 3-d is a step. We need to make less of a curtain between us and the reality of a movie.

How about those moving seats?

I just tried that for the first time the other day. I think you have to do it well, but you certainly can’t get that at home.